Garlic pizza and a Crab
by Wakadooia
Summary: Part 1 of my AU "Space Vagabonds" that will eventually feature some Galvatron/Cyclonus. Human!Galvatron, rated M for language and Violence. (EDIT 11/01/2017: edited/rewrote story.)
1. Chapter 1

Gavin's brain often took the strangest of times as an opportunity to try and re-evaluate life.

Sitting in a dim apartment wearing nothing but hole-filled underwear, a vest and socks, eating garlic pizza was clearly the perfect time to reflect back on his life.

It was rather fucking shit.

He was a student that was 'going places'.

Bullshit.

Every student got fed that crap from the day education started then when it starts going downhill, teachers and parents wonder why the students get depressed.

You get told the world is your oyster then it's suddenly a rotten and inedible oyster before you can blink.

Forget it, he preferred looking back on his best parts. Which Gavin thought was most of them.

Though right now he was anything but inspiring.

Somehow managing to make a bite of grossly over-seasoned pizza seem thoughtful, he thought back on how awesome he'd been.

Totally awesome and nothing else.

Of course.

Construction class, or woodwork, whatever, he was great at that! Built a functional weapon out of the random assortment of tools, the school branded it as 'terrifying and violent' but he thought of it as proof of his 'imagination and skill'.

Got some great times in with the teachers too! 'Are we sitting comfortably?' he remembered one asking the class before he raised his hand and used his most innocent voice to say 'No miss, I got worms.' while staring at her directly in the eyes watching her face contort with shock and anger.

Oh wonderful times, the detention was worth it.

Flunked drama class, then again punching the screaming kid in the face wasn't going to help.

Stupid class anyway, heh, that gave the kid something to actually scream about.

Gavin had every confidence in his abilities, they were undeniable, it was just the School system he didn't like he guessed. The violent behaviour landed him in a therapist's office.

That became boring so quick.

The therapist himself was awful.

Spoke to Gavin in a child's voice. Damn he wasn't stupid but that asshole spoke to him as if he was. He decided that 'fuck therapists' was a good philosophy and he tried to knock some sense into the bastard. Though clearly this guy had dealt with that happening before and had a goddamn taser under his desk, Gavin didn't even know the guy was allowed to have that in an office.

Pissed his favourite pair of pants.

That asshole.

Got sent to another because it sure helped the first time. Gavin treated that guy as a joke and had some fun the first few sessions, deliberately misspoke words like said 'kilt' instead of 'killed' and watched as the man's nose scrunched up in quiet frustration from behind his glasses. Brilliant.

Another game you played was 'count how long it was until the therapist asked about your parents'.

Half an hour into the first session actually.

You told him straight, dad was an arrogant cunt your mother moved back to somewhere in Europe apparently, which you told the therapist was probably a lie, given your dad's behaviour your mum was probably just some one night stand who dumped you with him before pissing off somewhere else. The therapist noted that down and proceeded to make the next load of sessions all about them.

He did his research and looked into your medical records and found out some of your lies regarding your parents. Gavin's face scrunched up, he had picked up quickly on your reactions to hearing the truth about your parents and figured out some of the other REAL issues regarding them.

Though that's what you did most of the time now, go to therapists or anger management classes, it took up most of your time now you ceased being a street thug.

Yep.

There was something else the therapist latched onto.

What could be said about being an 'unlawful youth'? You mostly messed with some drugs and beat the shit out of whoever you felt like, you didn't care.

You still didn't care now but you feel more apathetic about it, beating people up seemed boring right now.

The attitude change could also be pinned on said drugs. It was a new thing being spread about, pretty bad shit too as a fair few people had already died from it less than three months since it hit the streets.

The media reported it as 'the latest drug craze to sweep the streets' and it earned the nickname of a 'plasma bath' due to the all-over tingling sensation it gave, like being submerged in a bath of energy, submerged in plasma.

As a former, albeit kind of brief, user Gavin could personally agree with such a description. What he meant by 'brief' was that the shit was hard as hell to come by and he got little of it, which was arguably a good thing.

Given how the ingredients had dubious origins and the concoction seemed fairly lethal given how quickly it had caused a few deaths.

Other than the rides with substance abuse it was mostly senseless violence which is what you became known for quite quickly in your home town, obviously, you weren't there anymore, with a reputation like yours, it was safer to just leave.

Said reputation had earned you the nickname of "Cheshire". You grinned like mad when you were beating someone to a bloody pulp this lead to an altercation with a street gang where they decided to take your nickname to the next level, and well you now wore just a bit of makeup every day so the scars around your mouth weren't so visible.

Gavin hated his brain.

There were some, okay, almost all of his younger life he didn't want to even think about, let alone re-evaluate.

He just wanted it gone from his mind, to be free of it.

Disgruntled murmuring brought your attention back to the dirty table, littered with food boxes and empty cups, where the now empty pizza box joined the mess.

"'Sup Lil' shit" you greeted the mangy cat that had crawled in through an open window.

It sniffed the air and looked as disgusted as a feline could be, the cat never liked the smell of the garlic. The thing wasn't even your cat he just appeared every now and then, made you wish you were a cat.

No therapists, getting to go where ever, eat whatever, shit whenever and sleep for as long as you liked.

Your aspirations right now weren't aiming high, though you once claimed to a preschool teacher you would 'rule the world'.

Gavin laughed out loud startling the cat.

He didn't even understand anything he'd just thought about, almost as if he was reading some load of senseless blabber and tossed the remnants of the crust back into the box.

He guessed he'd better get some clothes on.

Hoisting his body off the seat he glanced around his scarcely decorated domicile and located the pile of, hopefully, clean clothes in-between a few stolen street signs you refused to let go of and a stack of CDs.

Pulling on a pair of tatty denim trousers Gavin rummaged around the pile for his favourite, a black band t-shirt proudly displaying the band's name in garish colours "Unicron's head" it said above the image of the skull of a decapitated demon that seemed to be floating in space. They were an 80's-style rock band and he couldn't get enough of their music. Applying the shirt to his body Gavin grasped the only piece of clothing he truly loved. A purple turtleneck jumper.

It matched the purple colour he had dyed his hair too, hair that used to be fairly tame but now looked as if he was the victim of a particularly bad electrical shock.

Only permanent.

Not that he didn't care about his hair, he still kept the dye in, he just never bothered to do much else with it apart from brush and dye.

Gavin was dressed. Now what.

He hadn't thought that far ahead.

Again.

The cat had lost interest and was crawling back out the window again.

Yeah.

Let's just go out. A walk. Yes.

Yanking the door handle Gavin strolled out the building with all the grace of a moody shoebill bird.

Fantastic.

The day was off to a brilliant start, damn sun too bright, air too hot, birds too loud Gavin could go on with this. Kicking a can on the lawn he shuffled around back keeping his head down and away from the sunlight.

"Hello pig" he muttered to his other 'pet'.

Pig was a Cow.

It was penned in by a half-rotten wooden fence and had been there longer than he had, for all he knew it probably didn't even have an owner.

Pig lazily hung its head over the fence demanding a pat with a soft moo. It got it's pat and trotted off done with the human.

One day he might see who actually owned the land about here.

He lived in a dingy shack, that was being rented out for a phenomenally cheap price.

Probably because it looked like it was about to fall apart and was covered in specks of missing and peeled paint, it was also placed next to a field on the edge of anywhere remotely interesting.

Right okay. time to actually walk somewhere.

Gavin kept his eyes down. The sun was bright, reflections off the windows were irritating and lord knows he'd probably punch someone if they made eye contact with him.

Slinking into a local park he placed himself down onto a shady bench and stared at the leaves above him and the tiny rivulets of soft light that leaked between them.


	2. Chapter 2

Despite having rather spontaneous bursts of action and a somewhat mixed thought pattern, Gavin possessed an innate ability to become a statue.

The Sky had slowly dimmed and countless people had sat beside him and left, a few tried talking to him but found him unresponsive.

He didn't even hear them talking, it was irrelevant.

The sky had now officially turned black and was speckled with countless little glowing dots. Stars, people found them pretty and romantic but by the time the light reached Earth they were dead, as he heard, didn't bother to question it, another irrelevant factoid.

Gentle nudging made him aware of his position. Disgruntled at the intrusion Gavin snapped his head round and gave his beast death glare to the responsible party.

Holy shit.

Mr Morrisey.

Gavin's old woodshop teacher.

"God, you're still alive" He blurted out without a thought.

"Given how you used to act I could say the same to you!" The older gentleman returned a gentle smile covering his face like what was happening was an everyday occurrence.

"What the hell are you pestering me for?" Gavin sniffed suddenly irked by the intrusion of someone he used to know. Someone from his past.

"Just surprised to see you still about, especially around here! And not causing trouble!" Morrisey laughed, not in a condescending manner but it still proceeded to grate further on Gavin's nerves.

"Yeah you always made assumptions about me, if that's what you're here to do piss off" Gavin attempted to reject the situation as quickly as possible.

"No no, just had a run in with some unsavoury person. In retrospect not surprising" The ex-teacher looked down at him and Gavin bit his lip not to punch him.

"Go shag a cactus"

"Eloquent"

"Yeah well whatever scum you got yourself in trouble with ain't anything to do with me"

"That's good I already called the police for assistance anyway"

"So why you still hanging around here then if some guy is trailing after you?" Gavin squinted at him, while not particularly in the mood for a fight he knew that if trouble came near him he'd probably punch it and if he had rung the police, that wouldn't go down well.

"Oh, the thug ran in a different direction but I am heading home now" Mr Morrisey sighed he looked around himself as if making sure whoever had decided to chase him had really gone, "I think the nearing police lights spooked them off"

"Yeah, fine, whatever" Gavin pushed himself further into the seat, trying to distance himself in any way possible.

"What no catch up news? Nothing to tell me?"

"Go fuck yourself"

He refused to let the conversation die

"Still use Oreos as bookmarks?" He chuckled

"God! Fuck! That only happened once and do you know how long I was known as the pissing 'oreo kid'?" Gavin hissed, he hadn't remembered what exactly possessed him to stick the snack between book pages but it only fueled his desire to get rid of the teacher.

Mr Morrisey made an 'mmm' sound in response "Look I already treated myself to an unwelcome internal monologue about myself earlier today can I not travel down McBoring shit-fart school time memories?"

"Maybe you should think about actions you take before you take them"

"Uuuuuuuh god there's a reason teachers and students aren't meant to meet outside of class even if I'm not a student anymore" Gavin sagged into the seat.

"Oh come on can't we wipe the slate clean? Forget any past grievances we had and chat like friends? I mean why have you moved up here?" He looked like he was close to seating himself down next to Gavin, and then, Gavin shuddered, this conversation definitely wouldn't end as soon as he wanted.

"TO GET AWAY FROM THE TWATS BACK THERE LIKE YOU!" Gavin snapped his voice screeching a little. Mr Morrisey squinted angrily at him and sneered

"Yeah you're right you should've moved down to Glasgow anyway" The teacher thinned his lips.

Gavin clasped his hand to his face, had he sweated off the makeup? How dare he stare at it! At you! At that scar! Not even thinking Gavin hopped up on his feet wearing a snarl on his lips and threw his fists up readying a shot when the reason the older man felt safe enough to poke a raw nerve presented itself.

Blue lights pulsed dimly in the distance.

"Must dash" Mr Morrisey smiled enjoying the brief loss of control he caused and ran away. Gavin watched with an angry tight feeling in his chest as the man sped off out the park and down into an estate.

The thudding of car doors forced him to notice that the Police car had pulled up and the Cop had jumped out.

A tall man wearing simple clothes was running down the path in his direction and the pasty-faced cop was in pursuit.

The man being chased seemed to be ignoring the Policeman behind him and was focused on the path ahead looking past it down the estate roads. Could this be the 'unsavoury' person mentioned earlier? If so he was welcome to that asshole. Fueled by irritation the moment the man passed Gavin poked his foot out and the Policeman went straight down. His outstretched hand caught the runner by the ankle and the man twitched violently before falling down also.

The Policeman was obviously red-faced as he moved to grab the fallen man's arm and in a swift motion got up and grabbed Gavin's arm too dragging the other man with him.

"You sir are in a lot of trouble" He snarled at Gavin

"No change from usual then" Gavin sneered back before putting his most innocent look on "I just mistimed my movements I thought you would have passed before I moved my foot to re-tie my laces!"

The policeman obviously didn't seem to buy it.

"Oh honestly sir" Gavin dragged out the 'sir' "I was just having a relaxing sit in the park why would I want to get into trouble with the law again?" A thought passed Gavin's mind that maybe he could've or should've ran, the officer wouldn't have been able to chase them both.

The Policeman furrowed his brow in agitation, he didn't want to deal with Gavin regardless of disrespect, he wanted to deal with the man in his other arm.

Speaking of which the other man, stood perfectly still and was looking in the direction of where he was originally running occasionally moving his head as if angling himself to hear what the two people behind him were saying without changing his view.

"Besides what has he done?" Gavin peered at the tall dark man, probably nearing seven foot maybe, hair tied back with minimal flyaway hairs and still not paying full attention to both of them.

Though Gavin still felt as if the man was fully aware of what was happening behind him.

"That is not something I can share with members of the public, you are not involved in this case" The policeman replied curtly.

"Ah, so he just looked like someone you ought to chase then?" Gavin smiled, the Policeman's eyes flashed angrily.

Forever having a problem with law-enforcers and many forms of authority Gavin played with the cop a bit more

"I know him" He lied, still not looking at him Gavin caught the man glance at him "What's my friend in trouble for?"

The Policeman scowled clearly not truly believing him.

"This man was reported acting suspiciously and was following a civilian brandishing a threatening item"

"Oh, that" Gavin lied again "Ever heard of Insulin jabs? The dude probably saw the needle glinting in the moonlight and his prejudice ass presumed the worse!" attempting to reinforce his 'friend' notion Gavin stepped forwards and patted the man on the back. A little confused but seemingly eager to get on his way the taller gentleman looked at him and nodded before looking back at the officer. The officer shook his head.

"Fine, there's nothing wrong with carrying around emergency medication. It is also possible to be a misunderstanding like you said but I still need to get his details it's a requirement and you cannot speak for him" The officer let go of Gavin's arm seemingly having cooled off enough to ignore his 'misdemeanor' and gently pulled on the man's arm "If you'd like to come with me sir" and the ever quiet man followed him patiently.

Whatever.

His mood was in no fit state right now and he stomped back home, only slightly grateful the Cop hadn't decided to reprimand him for his behaviour.

Gavin looked no more graceful the next day.

Wearing nothing but a baggy shirt he fumbled around his empty cupboards for something to eat. An Onion was the only thing that looked rather safe to eat. Nonplussed he scooped it up, peeled the skin off and ate it like it was a confused apple.

The door suddenly rattled angrily.

Instantly frustrated at the loud noise Gavin swallowed the bite of onion he just took and grabbed the door with equal anger before swinging it open.

"Who's beating the fucking door!?" He snapped.

Ah, fuck.

It was what's-his-face from last night, shit.

He looked a little confused and looked Gavin up and down even leaning to the side a little.

"I was" He replied in a deep smooth albeit mildly confused, voice as if Gavin had actually expected an answer to his prior question despite said answer being obvious.

Gavin ran a hand through his hair, he was still wearing nothing but a shirt feeling the cold breeze. His brain had frozen on him.

"Uh" and many variations of it were the first things to roll out his mouth. Desiring to jog the conversation on a little the taller gentleman spoke

"I noticed you spoke to a man last night, do you have any connection to him?"

Oh had he been that near them to have seen him talking to his old teacher.

"I... knew him?" Gavin shrugged, he was still confused enough that his eyes seemed to refuse to focus properly but he could still make out the other man was still in the same clothes as before "It's cold now" he added and took a step back aiming to just shut the door on Mister tall, dark and nameless.

"I want to ask more questions" he stated 'matter of factly' and held onto the end of the door preventing its closure.

"Ugh, for fuck's sake" Gavin walked away from the door and left it open. If he had to knock this motherfucker out he would, he had a few sharp implements about the place if need be.

The man opened the door fully and went to step through into Gavin's place before stopping. Gavin gave him a side glare, he was the one who wanted to talk more and was now letting cold air in, Gavin wasn't dressed for that fuckery.

He'd obviously noticed the small glare and took a step forwards.

It was as if he had never encountered a door before. He seemed to shuffle forwards slightly before ducking his head down unnecessarily for the height of the doorway and took a few steps inside. He then looked around as if assuring himself he had made a clean entrance before pulling the door shut behind him and glancing around the room uncomfortably.

Scratching at his midsection and still not putting pants on Gavin felt a smirk building as the confused man awkwardly stood by the door.

"Ask whatever it is you wanted to ask and piss off or just do the latter... Mister...?" Gavin waved his hand to entice an answer out of him. The man still looked at him oddly before his brow furrowed in thought.

Holy fuck this guy had to actually think about what his own name was? Jeez.

"Cyyyyyyy Cy-Cyrus" He muttered

"Cirrus? I know you're tall but that's taking the piss" Gavin roared with laughter.

Hah, Cloud puns.

"No, Cyrus" Cyrus responded flatly.

"Uuuuuugh great" Gavin squinted at him in mild annoyance.

Was it too early to start a fight with someone?

"I know you were talking to an older male before I passed" Cyrus spoke quite formally taking a few strong strides towards him while avoiding any piece of furniture in the room as if it had a large force field around it. And made out of glass.

"So were you actually chasing him?" Gavin arched an eyebrow.

"I am asking the questions right now"

"And you are in my fucking house and no one speaks to me like that!" Gavin snapped back, no one ordered him. Cyrus glared back at him.

"I have no time for a petty argument, your reply indicates I am correct and you did speak to him. He has placed out a jamming signal and I cannot locate him. I need you to tell me what you know of him with preference to his living arrangements " Cyrus stated sharply.

"That's not a question that's a request" Gavin put back even though his mind continued to utter 'fuck me' in disbelief, jamming signals? What the hell was this guy doing?.

Cyrus looked to the side and thought a bit before making an 'ah' motion with his face.

"Please, will you tell me?" Cyrus said as if correcting his prior statement

"Oh well you asked so politely" Gavin rolled his eyes, why was this douche so interested in a teacher "He taught at a school I went to and was a total fuck face so if you want to go beat the shit out of him I'll join you!" especially after the remark he made last night, Gavin would not tolerate people poking fun at that.

"All I ask is for you to lead me to him" Cyrus cut in "Nothing more is required"

"Call it payback for helping your ass last night?" Cyrus arched his eyebrow in response "Besides with the way you seem to go about things, mainly how damn stiff you seem to be around doors, it'd probably be better for someone to lead you to him in case a revolving door confuses you" Cyrus glared at his statement picking up the insulting tone.

"Do not question my intelligence" He scowled.

"You bowed your head to get through a door, man, you were nowhere near the top of the frame, you looked like an idiot and seemed to be unable to remember your own name" Cyrus wasn't buying it, but a chance to get a hit back on Mr Morrisey was too damn pleasing to his violent streak to be passed up "Besides he knows me to an extent, he'd probably let me in his house if I asked. Not you."

"That seems logical. You can also act as a distraction for me" He seemed to settle for that response.

"Yeah I can keep him distracted with a fist... Wait why are you interested in him?" Gavin finally remembered to ask. It probably should have been the first thing he asked.

"It won't be of much concern to you" Cyrus answered.

Whatever, Gavin thought, a chance to knock that douchebag the fuck out had presented itself to him and he wasn't going to pass it up.


	3. Chapter 3

For the first time in probably years, Gavin had a plan for that evening.

A plan that didn't involve going to therapy classes in some vague attempt to convince himself all was good.

Find Mr Morrisey and beat him up for being a snarky shit yesterday. A more than good enough reason for Gavin.

Oh, and Cyrus too, whatever the hell he wanted with the fucker.

The plan was simple: Find McAsswipe act kinda nice-y nice to him a bit and follow him home, or at least to a secluded spot and deck him.

Gavin was put on hunting duty, Cyrus would be recognised and he kept muttering about 'hiding' and needing a signal or whatever, the guy was strange anyway.

Cyrus had stood outside his house as Gavin put some actual clothes on, the exact same as yesterday.

Shuffling outside with all the grace of an inebriated crocodile Gavin locked his door before looking at Cyrus who had a straight face as usual.

"Despite my efforts, I appear to be not so well hidden around here. Are you sure you have adequate tracking skills to find him?" Cyrus stated despite it being a question.

"I guess" Gavin actually had no idea where to find him or how to 'hunt', what did he actually know about the teacher... "He always liked keeping the classroom warm as everloving fuck, so wherever's hot… I guess"

Cyrus seemed to accept this and looked out towards the street patiently waiting for Gavin to lead him to their target.

"If I do find him how the hell will you know? I can't exactly send you a text or anything?"

"Don't bother I will know"

"Riiiiiight" Gavin moved off down the street slouched over uninterested. Was this what it was like to be in a gang? Felt bizarre, he hadn't teamed up with anyone before, though maybe if he had... Best he didn't think about his face right now or the weeks spent eating purée after that incident. Maybe he should roll with this, though, screw the anger management classes go back to being an aimless arsehole vagabond wandering the streets with a bone to pick with everyone. Didn't sound too bad. Cyrus was odd but then again that was no guarantee he'd be game.

Then again he also didn't know why he was after Mr Morrisey. Another student perhaps?

Irrelevant.

Gavin looked back at Cyrus who was following a fair distance away at a slow pace. Just how much distance was enough for this guy? He seemed to have bad enough depth perception as it was he seemed to think everything was closer than it actually was, as he made an exceptionally large curve in his path to avoid a postbox. Rolling his eyes Gavin dipped into the first shop along the way.

Gavin stood still doing nothing but staring at the shop.

A turtleneck jumper was not good outfit choice for a busy store. Especially one with a functioning heating system.

Turning out of the store Gavin realised that he hadn't even known Mr Morrisey was here until last night nor had he seen him for years.

He had no fucking clue how to find him.

No wait, yes he did.

It'd mean conversing with an enemy though.

Gavin scanned the area for Cyrus to check if he as actually about. Couldn't see him, didn't matter though. Now he'd actually left the house with punching his old teacher in the face in mind he better go through with it.

He put on pants for this.

He was finishing it.

Wandering down roads he had never dreamt of going near he followed the brightly coloured cars to the police station. The pristine white walls made Gavin's eyes hurt and he squinted dimly as he approached the desk.

A suspicious looking bloke appeared behind the desk. No, wait, he was just giving Gavin a suspicious look.

"H-hey" Gavin blinked harshly at the bright surface "Uh so last night some dude got chased in the local park and, uh, one of your officers got him? But, uh, the guy was my old teacher and he stopped to say something to me 'cos the guy chasing him was being chased by an officer and like wasn't after him? But he, uh, dropped something as he was talking to me and, I mean, I ain't seen him for years and I didn't even know he was here but, yeah, I wanna go give it back?"

He was given a rather vacant uninterested look

"Mr Morrisey?"

The guy seemed to acknowledge him more and turned to his computer

"I am not authorised to give out people's personal details to those who have no concrete proof of knowing the aforementioned person, however if you have something belonging to him I can hold onto it and deliver it to him."

Oh shit yeah.

"Uh right okay" Gavin hurried out of the police station muttering something about not actually bringing it with him and going to get it, glad for the duller view of the outside world only this time Cyrus had advanced to his location.

"Why were you in there?" he snapped

"Asking for information" Gavin pushed himself forwards a little bit not letting himself be intimidated by Cyrus getting so close.

"They will only stop the search"

"They had no fucking information anyway!"Gavin exclaimed with a dramatic arm flail for effect Cyrus scrunched his face up angrily

"I have no idea what possessed me to ask an irrational native for assistance anyway!" he snorted a bit more to himself but still intended.

"Then go ask one your natives then!" Cyrus gave him an odd look once he said that "Yeah go on" Gavin continued "Whatever! I don't even know why I'm up and dressed! Yeah, I wanted to punch that fucker but" He fumbled for words before groaning angrily.

"Irrational" Cyrus sniffed.

Gavin wanted to transfer the punch reserved for his teacher to him and raised his hand to do so.

This Cyrus fellow had clearly been in a similar situation before and grasped Gavin's wrist before he even had a chance to let it 'fly' twisting it behind Gavin's back and kicking out his ankles dropping him to the ground.

Gavin wheezed, all air temporarily vanished from his body but when he managed to pull himself up Cyrus was already gone.

Damn it, he couldn't even form a proper rebuttal or punch, he shouldn't even be caring what kind of impression he left on a total stranger but being put on the floor made him furious and now added a name to his 'to fight' list.

Fuck everything, He wanted to cause some harm again, he was going to fight Morrisey or him, one or the other he didn't care.

He was irritated and when he was irritated thoughts didn't form properly and when that happened his ability to produce words followed suit and failed. When that happened he usually relied on fists to convey his mood for him.

Cyrus had long since vanished by the time Gavin had sat down in a small cafe and started eating something. He wasn't even sure what meal he had managed to order, a sandwich probably, and pay for, but he ate it.

Food was food.

Gavin's easily frustrated mind snapped angrily at him as he ate. He wanted to fight now. Something to get his anger out on, anything.

"So why were you being followed?" Someone leant over him.

"JESUS FUCKING TAP-DANCING CHRIST" Gavin howled flinging the last morsel of food over his head in a surprised flail, his words and actions gathered brief attention from surrounding people but they all quickly pretended not to notice.

He tried to stand up and swing for the offending voice while the shock was still powering his system but in his haste to stand up he bashed his knees against the table and promptly slumped back down again.

Clasping his knee Gavin shot the best death glare back at the voice. The voice who had sat down in front of him.

The voice that belonged to Mr Morrisey.

Now in daylight Gavin could see him better, greying brown hair was short and brushed back, even facial hair was beginning to change colour. His skin was a similar shade to the wood he used to work with.

"You twat-arse" Gavin hissed at him.

"Didn't realise you were so deep in thought I'd scare you" The man laughed.

Gavin clenched his fist, remembering how he had originally come out to go after this jerk.

Mr Morrisey held up his hand in a 'peace' gesture and apologised.

"I was a little bit on the offensive last night and it was wrong of me, I guess I was lashing out a little I must have been feeling more agitated than I realised last night."

"I hate you"

"I'm sure" Mr Morrisey pulled an expression similar to the 'I understand' face some of Gavin's therapists had used in an attempt to 'make him feel comfortable' or something. Generally had the opposite effect. "Look Gavin..."

"Shut up" Gavin responded automatically.

"No, let me talk, please?" He pleaded.

"Only if you promise to fuck off after. Might as well return to my monotonous life of shit watching the world go by and forget about you assholes"

"Of course I will, but if you really feel your life to be so monotonous, wouldn't you like a change from that? I could offer you a job, get you out of therapy sessions or anger management classes?" He grinned, knowing that a chance to get out of those would be very tempting.

"Pretty sure I still have to go no matter what I do. Government mandated for me or some other bullshit" Gavin huffed, it was tempting to him and he did want a way out of them but due to his previous actions and convictions he had to go to them. Or get locked up indefinitely.

"No no no! I can offer you a job that will get you out of all of that! And I'm serious! I just want to know why that man spoke to you"

"Ugh, that it? Listen all that fucker wanted to know was where you were. Thought I could lead him to you like some sniffer dog then he could do whatever it was he wanted. That was it. I only went along with it because I wanted to twat you in the face, Got it? Still do, but still..."

"Oh. Really? Guess he's serious about finding me" The old teacher leant back in his chair with a thoughtful look.

"He left anyway. So nothing's happening and whatever you're up to is irrelevant"

"Don't you think that if he were a normal street thug trying to mug me he'd have bothered to try and find me again the next day? I saw you try and take a swing at him earlier. I'm impressed I should have known that if anyone would be the type to try and take on someone bigger than themselves it would be you."

Gavin rolled his eyes as he spoke.

Internally he was partially mourning the loss of the remainder of his sandwich.

"Long story short I think he will want to come after me again. I'd like you to hang about in case he does and get rid of him when he shows up"

"In case you hadn't noticed man but he grounded me" Gavin cut him short. The opportunity to fight someone was tempting. It was the purpose of the day and while he couldn't be bothered to attack him right now, he was a little uncertain of grappling with Cyrus again, being flat out beaten so quickly had put enough doubt in his mind to tamper with the 'fighting feel'.

"Doesn't matter if you make enough noise as you distract him I can grab my Taser and he wouldn't be a problem anymore!"

"Still think if I do that for you, I'd have to go back to my 'sessions' after. Sounds like a one or two-night deal there" Gavin grabbed the small tomato sauce packet on the table and popped it, directing a bit of general frustration on it.

"Well, I'd then want you to come with me and do it again for anyone else that comes along and tries to interfere" He was grinning in a manner that matched a specific type of cat.

Gavin arched an eyebrow at him. Wasn't he meant to be the 'crazy' one with a drug-addled mind? Yet this guy was acting as if several people were after his head. He had to refocus quickly as he realised the man was still talking "Think about it! You can be as violent as you want to anyone who gets close! I won't stop you, nobody would be able to stop you! Then we'd just move on. Go somewhere else! Go somewhere surprising!"

"I don't like surprises"

"..."

Mr Morrisey stared blankly at him.

Gavin shrugged.

"Do you want to come with me or not?" The teacher groaned a little.

"I might as well. I mean I put pants on and everything." Gavin shrugged again.

He would usually jump up at the opportunity for more violence. A chance to knock out someone who he felt had wronged him.

Any form of senseless violence was right up his alley. Usually.

He knew why he wasn't jumping at the chance right now but he didn't want to admit it.

Fuck it. he needed a change in his life. Urgently. Else he may as well find a damn cliff.

"Better be a damn fucking good surprise" He had said to the Ex-teacher before leaving.

He'd wondered if he'd encounter that Cyrus guy again seeing as he spoke to Morrisey again but he didn't show up.

His instructions were to meet at the Tesco convenience store in town and then be shown to where he had to 'stand guard'.

There was a second instruction of 'Call me Seth' written there too, but he ignored it.

Fuck him and his name.

The bad thing about meeting at a convenience store in the afternoon is that there are either loads of people leaving work and buying items, or it's the dying out flow of people heading home for the night.

At least no one noticed him when he went through and bought something to eat before perching on the wall outside.

Mister 'Seth' Morrisey showed up about half an hour after the snack went.

"Are you ready to be a bodyguard of sorts?" He grinned

"I wasn't sure about it earlier this day, don't make it sound even shittier." Gavin uttered.

He had somewhat lied earlier. Over the course of the day despite his dislike of surprises he'd actually grown to be rather eager to see this 'surprise'. It had to be better than anger management.

Anything had to be better than that.

He just wanted something new and not that.

The sky was almost black by the time Seth had lead the dawdling Gavin to an old disused factory. It was broken and battered with several missing windows perched just on the edge of town. It was something that looked like it should have been demolished years ago but nothing was ever done with or about it.

It was heavily locked though.

Seth took almost an hour going through several locked doors, chains and padlocks to eventually open up the place with a cloud of dust billowing out to greet them.

"Nice effect huh?" Seth seemed to grin wider.

Gavin squinted through the dust despite not feeling too affected by it. Seth straightened up and strode in, heading over to an exposed support beam he flicked a switch and several small lights turned on. The inside of the building was still dark as shit but the dull lights made it tolerable.

Around the edges of the room a few metal crates lay stacked about, they had light grey edges with dark panels, the corners of the boxes seemed to glow slightly. Gavin was partially distracted by the glow of the boxes to notice Seth pulling away at a large tarp in the middle of the room.

"Down here is my surprise!" He called.

Pulling himself away from the crates Gavin shuffled through the dark to the middle of the room. The tarp had been covering a large hole with a ladder clinging to the edge.

Below a smooth dull green shape lay dully in the middle. The front had a large partially see through circle embedded in it like a large compound eye. It was bizarre but whatever the hell it was had flew straight over Gavin's head.

Luckily Seth had slid down the ladder and entered in the side of it.

Something clicked and something else hummed. The circle at the front began to throb with a pale blue light which illuminated the chamber below far better than the dim lights.

It looked like a mutilated car with the back end of a jet.

"Sci-Fi fan?" Gavin called below.

"Somewhat, it's amusing when compared to the real universe!" He poked his head out "It's real! Surprised now?"

"A real fucked up car...?" Gavin wasn't sure if he was believing it, or just wanted to irritate an Ex-teacher.

"No, It's my craft! It's what brought me here all those years ago!" He sighed wistfully.

"You're telling me you're an alien. Who just happens to look exactly like a human?" Gavin raised an eyebrow peering over the edge, god damn his teacher WAS nuts.

"You'd be surprised at how common the 'bipedal' body is across planets, there are a few races with strong similarities! But no, I am wearing a disguise!"

"Oh aye? Take it off then"

"No I cannot do that. I will if I can finish the repairs and then I will show you. As we leave Earth!" He threw his arms open wide standing in front of the ship's entrance.

Space.

This fucker was seriously offering him a trip to space.

"It's a bit 'fantastical' I don't think I'll believe you until it actually takes off or you take off your disguise." He tried weedling the truth out of him. C'mon, space? Really?.

"Gavin, please, trust me!" He tried smiling emphatically as panels on the back of the craft parted revealing the rest of the crates within a cargo bay.

"No, you reported me to the school! Do you know how much shit I got in for that weapon incident!?"

"Oh my god, you're still upset about that? I can explain, I had to abide by Earth laws back then. But now I've finished what I want and I'm going to leave. If you want you can build another weapon out of the available materials here, but not the crates." Seth responded climbing back up the ladder.

Seth had advanced on the crates and easily hoisted one onto his shoulder carrying it over to the pit before dropping it down into the ship's hold. Some kind of field was active within the ship as the crates glowed brighter upon nearing it and their descent slowed before clicking gently in with the other crates.

It was hypnotising.

Although he had managed to grab a small metal bar Gavin had done little else to arm himself and simply stared at the boxes going into the 'ship', twiddling the bar in his hands, he couldn't deny the weird… 'floatyness' of the boxes but he still clung to the bar tightly, not quite trusting Seth yet. He could still be batshit crazy.

"Keep a look out lad, I want to get away from here tonight!" Seth snapped him out of it.

Grunting something akin to a growl Gavin moved to the dingy looking staircase that lead to an upper floor and got himself a higher vantage point.

Up here there was nothing but a hole-ridden wooden floor and damaged windows. Most missing several panels of glass. It wasn't dangerous as long as Gavin kept to the edges of the room.

Waving the metal bar about in his hands Gavin circled the room looking out of each window as he went, the floor bent worryingly under his weight the further he wandered away from the support beams.

Viewing the city from this height would probably be viewed as some great beauty by most people. It was a dim silhouette against the deep purple-y blue night sky though almost no stars were visible. The City had more 'stars' in the form of street lights and houses with curtains not fully drawn.

Was he honestly going to go to space?

Couldn't be worse than here.

There weren't that many boxes to load, it should be done by now. Gavin advanced on the stairs, there was no change in their surroundings. Nothing had even been touched by a wandering fox since they entered. Being anything but quiet as he thumped down the stairs Gavin threw the metal pole between both hands

"There was only, what, five or so boxes about that I could see are we done yet?" He called.

No answer.

Sighing to himself he started to go over to the pit to look in, but ended up only halfway there staring at the opposite side of the pit.

Despite not even a grain of sand being in a different location Cyrus had managed to get in, he stood over the other side of the pit, near the ladder, holding a weapon out in front of him. It looked like a gun but had several circular parts on it, including some form of shielding for the hand and several slits in it appeared to emanate purple. Below he could see Seth pressed tightly to the side of his 'ship'. When Seth spotted him he started jerking his head at Cyrus as if Gavin couldn't see the taller man and his glowing weapon opposite him.

Gavin gave him a 'do you think I'm fucking stupid' look and arm gesture in return.

"Sethbj'arck you are wanted on several accounts of arson and robbery. Hand yourself in!" Cyrus did something and the weapon clicked.

That made a lot of things so much clearer.

It WAS a weapon, and It definitely wasn't from around here.

Though why an alien convict would get a job as a woodshop teacher was still unclear.

Though that probably wasn't very important in the grand scheme of things.

Cyrus neared the ladder and Gavin supposed he'd better make a move. Rearing his hand up Gavin threw the metal pole, a loud 'fwip' noise followed it through the air as it spun a few times before hitting directly into Cyrus's shoulder. Instead of the 'thud' noise Gavin expected something hissed and Cyrus stumbled back a step looking a bit confused before he spotted Gavin.

"You again!?" He exclaimed irritated but returning to the ladder, not slowed down a bit by the pole.

Gavin looked a bit confused... Aliens man…

Seeing as just the one was offering him a trip off this dumb rock he supposed he ought to help Seth, or whatever the hell his name was, out, but Seth was already climbing up the ladder to meet with Cyrus holding something that looked like a disk in his hand. Seeing him reach the top of the ladder Cyrus wasted no time in grabbing him by the collar and tossing him to the ground behind him.

Clicking his weapon onto his belt Cyrus grabbed Seth and proceeded to hit his face into the ground while Seth responded by grabbing onto his leg and flipping Cyrus onto his back.

Cyrus proceeded to stutter a few times, his outline seeming fuzzy and his arms and legs motioned about as if he was unsure on how to get back up again.

Seth turned to look at Gavin, his face had many holes in it, each hole had a mound of green forcing it's way out making the skin around it bulge and stretch. Hissing Seth clasped his face and pulled the entire thing right off.

Without the head the rest of his body swelled and ripped open like an overstuffed sausage. Which was an apt description as what pushed out was seemingly twice as big as Seth ever was.

It was mainly a dull green but the large plates on it's back were a stunning bright iridescent shade of green, it was large and hunched over with huge compound eyes and two extra sets of arms behind it's main set that got thicker nearer the bulbous hands. Seth actually looked like a bipedal cross between a Rhino beetle and a Fly.

It's antennae waved about as the large plates on it's back, presumable covers for big insect wings, clicked against each other.

Gavin watched it grasp Cyrus and hoist him easily into the air.

"I was going to use a electric stunner to destroy this illusion but just how much blunt force can this thing take?" He hissed, his voice sounded almost as if he were two people speaking at the same time. He then slammed Cyrus down into the ground, at which point all of Cyrus flashed into blurry mess before reforming itself.

Part of Gavin's brain still did not accept the insect before him and he hurried over, picking up Seth's dropped disk on the way.

Seth's carapace really was smooth and shiny.

Gavin looked at the disk pondering offering it to Seth, but he seemed to be dealing with Cyrus quite easily without it.

He looked over to Cyrus who had not a drop of blood on him but continued to go fuzzy with each hit. Neither of them noticed or cared about him being there as a few shards of splintered wood whizzed past him.

Staring a little longer at the disk in his hand Gavin stood forwards before attaching it to the pale stretchy flesh visible on Seth's elbow joint.

The rims of the disk hissed with light as several vein-like streaks of that very same light spread out across Seth's body.

Seth instantly twisted in on himself his muscular structure tensing up as powerful electrical currents surged around his body immobilising him. As the current continued Seth started shaking violently as it increased in intensity

"G-g-gaaaaaviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!" He shrieked "Whhaaaaa... wha-wha whhhyyyyyyyy?!"

Gavin started blankly.

He had no idea why he did that.

"I tried giving it back to you?" He shrugged.

Hissing angrily Seth began stumbling backwards, swinging out with his larger forearms he managed to sweep Gavin up on his elbow pressing him to his body. Transferring some of the electrical current to him.

Damn that disk was strong, Gavin's eyes bugged as he tensed uncontrollably, Seth however seemed to benefit from the lesser charge and stumbled back into a proper upright position.

A loud 'thwip' followed by a wet thud and Seth went limp.

The disk started losing charge as Seth toppled backwards and fell on top of his ship. Gavin grunted with the impact but the smooth plating of the ship allowed them to slide off smoothly.

Gaining some control over his motor functions Gavin looked at the hole going dead centre through the alien's head.

His vision began going double and then blurry as his body began realising how much pain the little electro-disk thing had caused, peering upwards Gavin saw Cyrus holding his weapon in one hand and looking down on them.

He turned and left the edge of the crater, beeping indicated him activating some other item of technology.

Gavin started pushing against the bug corpse figuring that it wouldn't be too wise to spend his time nuzzled up next to it and preferred the idea of leaving now.

Leaving and trying to make sense of life, yet again.

His shaking body merely slipped against the smooth carapace of the body and he found himself with his hands under the two large plates on Seth's back. There was something thin and soft underneath the domed plates he really did have wings, maybe Seth should have flown off.

His ship seemed to as it began humming back to life.

A loud shrilling noise came from within.

"Life signal not detected?" Gavin heard Cyrus mumble. The ship started beeping.

If movies were anything to go by Gavin had a decent idea as to what was happening and climbed into the space on the dead Seth's back, he curled himself next to the now crushed wings and pulled down the thick carapace hoping it would make a good blast deterrent.

It was the only thing he could do anyway, as his legs needed to be manually pulled up close to him, twitching muscles refusing to cooperate fully.

It didn't quite matter as the pain from the disk was putting him to sleep anyway.

There'd probably be a bad burn where his body absorbed some of that electrical current.

When he woke up it was pitch black and sweaty as fuck.

Damn wearing a shirt AND turtleneck that day was not his smartest idea.

He felt as if he were lying on paper as he pushed whatever thin material surrounded him out of the way.

The low domed ceiling of where he woke up was somewhat heavy but easy to push away and once it was gone Gavin tumbled to the floor a hot and sticky mess.

Cooler fresh air surrounded him as he gasped loudly trying to take it all in. Even if it was a bit difficult to, when did it get so... humid?.

He rolled onto his side and glared at the iridescent green thing before him. How rude to be so bright at this time in the morning. Afternoon. When was it?

Gavin pulled himself into a seated position and looked back at the green thing.

It was a large dead bug.

A very large one.

Ah, now Gavin remembered. That was one of his old teachers.

Gavin punched the back of the corpse.

"Prick" he grunted at it, while ignoring the thought that he should probably think of something better to say or do while in the presence of aliens.

Actual real, confirmable aliens.

He stood upright in potentially the least graceful way any bipedal creature could ever manage. He had a pounding headache and his skin felt tight on his font, yep that was a fresh burn.

At least the pounding stopped.

And made way for metal rattling?

Looking at his surroundings he was in a purple-tinted metal room with bars replacing one of the walls. The bars had swung open when the rattling stopped and the pounding footstep presented themselves to him.

Hands grasped his shoulders and he was hoisted roughly off the ground by a crab.

A giant crab.

It matched its surroundings in the manner that it was a blue-ish purple but much more vibrant in colour. Thick armour like plates covered all of it's body, even it's lilac-tinted face seemed to be composed of two skull-like plates. Bright crimson orbs glared directly at him, not angrily, more irritated and confused as quills on its back rattled in frustration. Lips pursed and it let out an aggressive hiss shaking it's horned head it dropped him roughly on the ground and rubbed at the base of a horn before groaning.

"You're a crab!" Gavin exclaimed at it.

It turned back to look at him eyes squinting.

"And you are still a irrational fool!" It boomed in a deep voice after a few seconds thought.

Oh, Gavin thought.

Cyrus was an alien too and that's what he really looked like.

He was also shutting the door to the cage with you still in it. Springing back to his feet Gavin bolted over to the door and pushed his way through the gap.

"Hold! Hold hold it!" Gavin panted "Were both intelligent species here, can I not sit in the cage?"

"Your intelligence is something to be debated" 'Cyrus' loomed over you, opening up the cage door with intent to shove you back inside.

"Can't I at least know what's going on?" Gavin gasped, his lungs still burned, as he ducked past the huge crab and ran to what appeared to be a door.

'Cyrus' sagged a bit and decided chasing you wasn't worth his time and shut the cage door.

Gavin grinned.

He was in deep shit and probably halfway across the cosmos by now but he grinned anyway.


End file.
